STRANGE

DAYS

INDEED

A reticent tear driftedwearily down my cheek. It was December 8, 1980 and John Lennon was dead.

The winter sky was grayer, the wind was colder, and I was only vaguely aware of the stinging rain on my skin which now seemed so very far away . I was in complete solitude walking the Delaware Bay... shoreline at dusk.

The world was without color at that moment and I was numb. Later that evening I found myself in the company of some equally numbed friends fashioning a raft of flotsam, driftwood, and twigs. We tied it together with seaweed and dune grass; placed photos of John on it and dowsed it with gasoline. We then ignited the raft and pushed it out to sea.

After the initial “whoosh” of the raft igniting, all sound ceased as we stood watching John’s Viking funeral pyre make its way towards the horizon growing smaller and dimmer silhouetted by the indistinct shadow of the Cape May - Lewes Ferry in the distance. No one spoke.

The sea and wind were silent, and no music played. It was all we could do. Silence was the only music that seemed fit. All rests, no more notes.

GOD

Written in 1970 by John Lennon

God is a Concept by which

we measure our pain

I'll say it again

God is a Concept by which

we measure our pain

I don't believe in magic

I don't believe in I-ching

I don't believe in Bible

I don't believe in Tarot

I don't believe in Hitler

I don't believe in Jesus

I don't believe in Kennedy

I don't believe in Buddha

I don't believe in Mantra

I don't believe in Gita

I don't believe in Yoga

I don't believe in Kings

I don't believe in Elvis

I don't believe in Zimmerman

I don't believe in Beatles

I just believe in me...and that reality

The dream is over

What can I say?

the Dream is Over

Yesterday

I was the ... Dreamweaver

But now I'm reborn

I was the Walrus

But now I'm John

and so dear friends

you'll just have to carry on

The Dream is over

I won’t attempt to address the paradigm shift the Beatles brought with them to the Limelight.Suffice it to say it was not small. Yet you could sum up their entire body of work by simply saying the underlying theme of it all was “Love.”

John Lennon was a man of sharp wit, piercing intelligence, boundless creativity, and strong spirit. Despite his unprecedented celebrity he always remained “one of us”. He used his celebrity to further the cause of peace in the world. Have you ever noticed how it seems anyone with a message of peace is violently removed from the planet? From Mahatma Gandhi to Martin Luther King, Jr.

From Jesus of Nazareth to John Lennon.

From Robert Kennedy to Steve Biko. (I think Bono and Peter Gabriel best watch their step!)

For those who may be unfamiliar:John’s strong nonviolent stance against war was perceived as a threat by both Richard M. Nixon & J. Edgar Hoover. They brought their considerable powers to bear in an effort to have John deported.

Take a look at this FBI file on John Lennon released through the Freedom of Information Act. (FOIA)

Not much information;not much freedom either.

These files were released to University of California, Irvine, historian Jon Wiener, who wrote about them in his book "Gimme Some Truth: The John Lennon FBI Files." Portions of the files had been withheld under the claim that releasing them would "endanger the national security."With the help of the ACLU of Southern California, Jon Wiener sued the FBI asking the courts to order release of the withheld portions of the Lennon file. Here is that same document after the suit.

The 2 words released appear to be

"stated that"

At the trial the FBI claimed the text contains "intelligence information gathered by the United States about or from a foreign country, group or individual."

Release of the information on this page, according to the FBI, "can reasonably be expected to lead to foreign diplomatic, economic and military retaliation against the United States."

The withheld information remains the subject of litigation.

There is one more file to see, and it is a "Wanted" Flyer issued for John's deportation hearing.

That's not even Lennon. How much more about these documents is erroneous?

John Lennon was one of the most familiar faces in the world at this time yet that is not John Lennon’s picture in this FBI “wanted poster”. It is an East Village street singer named David Peel.

I leave you to draw your own conclusions.

Strange days indeed...

Most peculiar mama.

Now, without further ado,

I give you the officious

DC Posthumous Interview

with John Lennon.

DC-

John, how are things outside of the space time continuum?

JL-Existing without physical form is a gas.

DC-How do you find Eternity?

JL-Turn left at purgatory. (Chuckles)

DCIs there a God?

JL-If you want it.

DC-What kinds of things are you doing now?

JL-I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round, I really love to watch them roll, No longer riding on the merry-go-round, just had to let it go.

DC-John, how about music? Are you still makingmusic?

JL-George and I were just jamming with Jimi Hendrix, John Bonham on drums, Sun Ra on the keys, 'the Ox' (John Entwistle) on bass. It was pretty interesting.

Yesterday, I did a session with Al Einstein and Thomas Jefferson adding a little sweetening with their violins. We did a track last week with Janis Joplin, Bob Marley, Charlie Parker, and believe it or not, Richard Nixon called on his "Hell phone" and wanted to sing.

DC-Did you let him?

JL-Nah, none of us liked him in life, I can’t say he’s any better in death. And he sure as hell can’t sing. Besides all the silverware disappeared the last time we let sit in. He kept jabbering about dancing on the heads of punks and erasing our master tapes as well.

DC-Do you pay any attention to the goings on back on earth?

JL-Well to let you in on a joke, Keith Moon and I do visit from time to time.

DC-Really?

JL-Have you ever woken up inexplicably worn out and tired in the morning?

DC-More often than not.

JL-It’s because while your sleeping, Keith and Ishimmy down the silver cords that connect your souls to the great sempiternal beyond, then we take your bodies on a 'lost weekend' (heh heh.)

We usually get kicked out of every pub within 600,000 light-years before returning your body. Sometimes Graham Chapman comes along and we end up heckling Tommy Smothers just for old times sake, you know mate. it’s against the laws of metaphysics but we were always a bit rebellious. (Chuckles,lights a cigarette and inhales deeply)

Ahh… one nice thing about being a bloody aeriform spectre; No health to look after! You know you should enjoy that physical form while you can. It’s the one thing I miss. That, and existing in the same dimensions with my family and friends.

Although, I’m always there in a sense, as long as I‘m remembered.

DC-That explains a lot. John, do you follow current events back on earth?

JL-We get satellite TV but it takes years for thesignals to travel here. You see those Tralfamadorians over there with Kurt Vonnegut? They’ve been observing American Tele for a long time. They think Gilligan is the the leader of the earth people.

Of course, when Kurt arrived and heard that, he rolled on the noise floor, laughing. Then he said sadly “… it was pretty much the truth.”

So it goes.

I read Duly Consider on the ether net,that was a nice article on the nature of music last week by the way. Fripp is trippy and Eno is a hoot!

DC-Thanks, John! We are honored! Aside from your elegantly surreal lyrics and prodigious musical contributions, you were always a great campaigner for the cause of world peace.

Is there anything you would like to say to those of us you had to leave behind?

JL-I said it while I was there with you. I’m saddened by all the wars and violence. War is over if you want it. I don't believe in killing whatever the reason! If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliche that must have been left behind in the Sixties, but that's theirproblem.

Love and peace are eternal.

If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there'd be peace.

(Imagine ...John Lennon's responses are a combination of the author's imagination and actual Lennon quotes.)

DC Editor's Note: In this week when the 'moral majority' are mourning the death of a man who claimed to be a Christian who favored the death and dying of millions to starvation, war, pestilence and AIDS; Duly Consider remembers John Lennon who gladly represented the so called 'immoral minority' as he opposed all that pretense that has been a whole generation of haters!

3 comments:

February of 1964. The Beatles appeared on Ed Sullivan. All I wanted to hear them sing was "I Wanna Hold Your Hand", which I'd been hearing on the radio. Nobody had any idea how talented these guys were or what prolific writers they'd become. I had just begun dating my wife. We've been married for 40 years. Ah, the Beatles and at a time when I was finding the love of my life. The happiest of memories.

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